The present invention relates to an axle beam arrangement on a vehicle, in particular on a motor vehicle.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Such axle beams, also referred to as subframes, are well known and are generally composed of two longitudinal beams, which in the assembled state of the axle beam are oriented substantially in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and which are connected to each other via at least one cross beam substantially aligned in the transverse direction of the vehicle. As a rule, such an axle beam has two cross beams connecting the longitudinal beams, which are spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle or the direction of travel. Usually, a transmission is mounted on the cross beam, wherein at least one bearing location is disposed on each cross beam. The top cross beam regions of these cross beams may have a clearance gap to allow sufficient movement relative to, for example, components or body parts arranged above which will be referred to herein as vehicle stop structure. Due to the arrangement of the transmission mount on the cross beams, stress during the vehicle operation, in particular during start-up, occurs in the vertical direction, wherein the cross beams are designed to remain below the plasticizing limit of the material. All the forces must here be supported by the cross beam, wherein in particular open cross beams, that is cross beams having, for example, a U-shaped cross section, may be subjected to significant stress in the transverse cross beam support, which in turn determines the wall thickness. Such cross beams thus typically have a relatively large wall thickness, which disadvantageously increases their weight.
The same applies likewise to the force introduction points of the longitudinal beam(s). Such force introduction points, hereinafter always referred to as brackets, may be for example steering brackets which come to rest on corresponding vehicle stop structures by bridging a gap distance, when a corresponding force is applied in an transverse direction of the vehicle. The peak load thus also determines the wall thickness in these areas.
According to the above discussion, the design of an axle beam thus requires a significant quantity of material, which leads to overall very heavy axle beam arrangements which increase the vehicle weight.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved axle beam arrangement on a vehicle, especially a motor vehicle, capable of absorbing force peaks without plastic deformation of the axle beam and which has in addition a simple design and a low weight with a relatively small component wall thickness.